Daily time with God

‘I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know . . . the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people’ Ephesians 1.18

When Paul prays for revelation for those who believe, the second thing he longs for believers to grasp is God’s ‘glorious inheritance in his holy people’.

This is a strange sentence and at first sight doesn’t really seem to make sense. If I speak about my inheritance, it implies something wonderful that I have coming to me; something that I can look forward to one day. If we think of God’s inheritance in this way, it implies that God is looking forward to what he is going to receive; that he is going to be blessed by what he inherits – which is us, his holy people.

We are God’s inheritance, and the reason he is looking forward to it so much is because he already receives such joy from our presence and friendship with him. He looks forward with real longing to the time when we will see him face to face and enjoy a presence such as we have never known. In the meantime, the blessing to us is that as we stumble through life we can dare to believe that we are loved by God more than our wildest dreams can perceive. No wonder we need revelation to grasp this!

Since God is thrilled by your presence with him, why not give him the joy of a few minutes of your time spent in his presence, with no agenda on your part except daring to believe that you are bringing him great pleasure?